282 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM In fact, the Competition Authority not only objected the fact that information was lacking, but also that the applied fees were unreasonable with respect to the fees paid for any journey which had not been completed, but in which the order of the stops was not altered. The airline’s conduct was regarded as not compliant with the level of professional diligence required pursuant to Articles. 20, 21, first paragraph, and 22 of the Consumer Code70. The company did not provide enough information to allow for a full understanding of the essential elements of the offers, in particular regarding the fact that travellers who fail to notify the airline about not taking a specific outbound flight would cause the corresponding return flight to become unavailable. In this case, the issue is mostly the completeness and rationality of the information provided, and the strategy of the Competition Authority is praiseworthy, especially its focus on consumer protection. We might discuss the individual decisions made by the Authority in these cases and, in all likelihood, court action will be necessary as appeals will be filed against said measures. However, on a systematic level, protecting travellers’ freedom of choice is admirable and fair as it contributes to a more rational structure of the market. It also manages to protect individuals threatened by the current proliferation of online information, which requires some knowledge and wisdom to be able to navigate and understand properly. Since not everyone possesses these skills, it is necessary to identify and protect this “weak area” by rebalancing, through general-scope, administrative measures more effective due to their aggregate, broader-reach nature. 70 See Lamanna Di Salvo, La tutela del consumatore nell’ordinamento italiano tra strumenti civilistici e pubblicistici, loc. cit., 2658 and following; Nobile, Le tutele civilistiche avverso le pratiche commerciali scorrette, loc. cit., 180 and following.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==